iPhone 3G S global launch sees smaller lines, quieter reception (update)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jun 19th 2009 3:19AM
posted Jun 19th 2009 3:19AM
Update: According to O2, sales for the 3G S have already surpassed numbers for the iPhone 3G during last year's launch. So it's possible that the pre-orders were in full effect here. However, you have to remember that Europe and O2 in the UK in particular had very serious problems meeting demand at the time of the iPhone 3G launch last year. So this statement likely says more about inventory management than it does the demand of the 3G S vs the 3G.
[images courtesy of Richard Lai and mrgeoffb]
Im not surprised, people dont like having to pay stupid money for something that has all the features that the 1st Gen original iPhone had.
Only Apple can released a half assed device with features from the 90s and then make people pay twice once for 3g and now for better camera, its ridiculous and why i will never buy another Apple product.
Sorry that should have said:
"Im not surprised, people dont like having to pay stupid money for something that has all the features that the 1st Gen original iPhone should have had."
I don't know, maybe they pre-ordered?
well ... english are officially smarter than americans ( at least when you compare london an NYC in the context of the iPhone 3GS )
I'm not surprised either , in America apple sheep's buy anything unlike Europe
They pay 50$ for 3G 5GB a month for god sake and we pay less for INFINITY GB a month
Game over Apple your days is numbered its only matter of time before the American Sheep's wake up from there slumber
lol @ you saying Americans are sheep and then using there instead of their.
In all seriousness, many factors lead to it not being a huge deal.
#1. Its not a huge speed bump from EDGE to 3g and the new feature set isn't a huge upgrade
#2. The early upgrade fee isn't being waived this time around
#3. Economy
#4. Pre-Orders with home delivery.
Also Apple just shot themselves in the foot.
I don't know how much the rest of you know about European culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an asshole and selling overpriced outdated crap. If you screw someone over in Europe, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.
What this means is the European public, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase iphone 3GS, nor will they purchase any of Apple's Products anymore. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but apple has alienated an entire market with iphone 3GS release.
Apple, publicly apologize and cancel iphone 3GS or you can kiss your business goodbye
Sheep can spell?
@DR House
wtf are you on about? Europe isn't a country, its a collection of various (very different) countries. You can't just make a sweeping statement like that - that would be like me saying "In the Americas, pride and guilt play a large part."
You're nuts.
The original iPhone was something to get excited and probably won't be repeated by anybody Apple included.
Apple is stupid tho and i the people buying apple products are even more stupid. just the fact that they can't release a good product first time round and then wait for people to complain about missing features. oh and also, Where the f*ck is MULTITASKING? every windows mobile and the latest Symbians can do multitasking on slower processors. they work fine! Apple is putting too much processing power into the UI when its not needed!
even their macbooks(/pros) are overpriced!
So.. When nokia, SE, motorola, LG etc delivers a new cellphone that is basically the same as the last one, but with small improvements - That is ok. But Apple is not provided the same luxery, they should reinvent themself for each release?
I think Apple have made a great move by not giving the iphone 3gs a completly new look. So if your iphone use is pure fashion, you still look business with the previous generation iphone. But if your use is technical, the 3gs has some minor adventages.
To be fair this one ain't Apple's fault. O2 are charging over £100 MORE for the 3G S than the 3G on the same 18 month contract. That makes it by far the most expensive handset on the market as the inclusive minutes, texts and data haven't moved on since the 3G launched either. Anyone surprised by small turnout for the new model hasn't been paying attention to the pricing in the UK and I hope O2 realise they're killing their product with these ridiculous prices. To give a comparison the Nokie N97 can be had for free on a £35, 18 month contract with the 600 minutes, tripple the texts and unlimited data compared to £275 on a £35, 18 month contract with 600 minutes, 500 texts and unlimited data for the iPhone....
No its not ok but then they dont charge £400~ for a minor update.
@mannymix In the UK we did not have the option for preorder with delivery. So everybody you see at the shops is everybody who is buying one.
@Geir E
Nokia, samsung etc do release similar phones in their product line but the release 20 to 30 phones a year vs apple's 1. They should atleast work well on the one they release.
DR House... aka "I'm an expert." You are embarrassing yourself, all across America and Europe. The only repentance is to Publicly Apologize! to us.
I agree with the pricing problems in the UK, I bet hardly anyone 'pre-ordered' if that's even possible here and fewer still are going out etc and buying it.
People can see it is a blatent ripoff.
Oh I see from an earlier comment, that pre-ordering is not possible here, so basically almost no one is buying it here.
You know what's really funny? I have yet to see a post from mermermer, Zak, or any of the other Apple fanboys. Wanna know why? Because one of their major points of bashing the Pre and other phones was that there was no lineup to get one initially.
HA!
For everyone thinking DR House is a nut, his post is an edited version of a guy's mad rant regarding Sony and Metal Gear Solid (I think). I can't find it at the moment but it's a must see, shall continue searching...
Yes cause the Nokia N97 isnt the exact same POS 700 dollar phone that they have been milking for years. Just as another poster said, other phone companies release up to 40 variations of the same pos year after year and you Euro's just swallow it up.
@Dr House
Wow you have to be one of the biggest douches on the planet. It's very obvious you are one of those European snobs who thinks he knows everything.
Outdated? How exactly is the iPhone outdated? I guess you must have some neat space powered phone.
Shut your dumb Euro trash mouth, you are obviously very jealous. You do realize that the only reason people make fun of anything is because they are either threatened or jealous.....You are a sad sad person.
The source material for DR House's rant. Hilarious.
Damn comment system! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jz0x5SDGFM
This is a bullshit article.. The lines are plenty long in the United States, and this despite the fact that Apple sold 300,000 units or more on pre-order without people having to stand in a line..
I guess the Pre and the iPhone DO have something in common
hahhah, you sir just won the internets.
Alright, usually I'm up on the puns and jokes around here, but I don't get it? Why is this comment funny and what is it talking about?
@Hue Jass:
BB's joke is based the thought process: "The Pre is far outclassed by the 3G S, and not many people are buying it either. Hahaha!"
I thought it was kinda funny myself. Also, I plan to buy a Pre when they become available on my planet.
Er, I mean on the shelves of stores near me. Yeap, that's what I said.
lol, but seriously... why the hell would apple only add 3 new features to the new iPhone. Those things should've been there in the 1st gen iPhone. It's REALLY stupid. How the hell could the 1st gen one not be able to record video?
Yeah, I'm sure the Pre is a huge factor in keeping down lines over there where they don't use Sprint or CDMA2000.
Except for the whole "it's gonna' be released in a GSM version" part.
The Pre won't be released here until later in the year.
Except for it hasn't been and no date is announced. Do you really think the same kind of muttonhead who would stand in line at a store to buy a phone first is going to put off their purchase because maybe something else might be available later?
It is neither, really its just that its tea time right now. Im sure it will pick up after they have had their cup.
Ouch. People are getting over iPhone fever? Probably not, but we can dream, right?
Can I have your autograph? Or am I gonna have to dismember you?
There's really no reason to be excited over this phone.
I suppose it depends on what you need and what you already have. Personally, I am excited about this since it will be my first phone for about the past 8-years and does a heck of a lot of stuff that I really want. If you already have an iPhone or similar then I can understand interest in an incremental update being limited.
Before the anti-iPhone zealots get too warm and fuzzy, they might want to wait for the results of sales. This is an incremental device and people are locked in on contracts in many parts of the world. By releasing OS 3.0 for all existing iPhone users, they have brought significant additional functionality to the devices they own. This will generate brand loyalty. My Blackberry is stuck with essentially the same crappy interface it had 3 years ago. I'm just off contract and have ordered a 3G S. We're all pundits but the only things that matter are marketshare and user satisfaction. The iPhone has increased both.
I bet those people sitting out front are just homeless.
Yeah, it's sad. A couple of months ago, they were investment bankers in the City. That park bench can get pretty boring after a few weeks...
Somebody in Cupertino´s marketing department forgot to read the sticky note "hire actors" is more likely.
In all fairness, I´m actually surprise. Apple normally manages to hype their products so strongly that people are willing to drop their iPod for a "newer" much shinier version up until now. You could argue that the iPhone on the contrary of the iPod has much fiercer competition but on the music players market there are also plenty of other producers who have their products rolling out of the pipeline. Also just like the iPhone, the Pre doesnt seem to sell that strongly either. So I do wonder where those consumers go to...
At least they didn't launch in SF. Queues everywhere.
you may be right, but at the same time iPods aren't subisidized and you won't pay a rape tax that's dependent on how long you've owned your previous ipod.
Funny you should say that. A hobo did walk past us and mumbled, "Pah... iPods...."
they just took advantage of the free shipping.. which is smart! sit back relax and wait for you new phone to arrive!
Maybe iPhone fans have finally figured out that the best way to get a new iPhone as soon as it comes out isn't to camp out in the street, but to pre-order. Or, maybe they just decided to wait for a real upgrade. Or maybe they want to wait and "Pre"-order. All I know is it's a good thing we won't be hearing about any tramplings this time around.
PRE-ordered.. funny
"PRE-ordered.. funny"
I won't claim to be original.
but really it is... although some people still wont believe me when I told them they can reserve a 3G s @ bb.. well their lost!
This was not available in the UK
I preordered mine to come to my house.. im not going to waist one drop of gas to go wait in line
You could walk down there... you know, just a thought.
Yeah, walking might help your waist.
lmfao... FuzzyCat made me laugh out loud D:
Maybe he's like me, where the nearest Apple store is 75 miles away
I'm no iphone user but I hope, hope that those 90s era features you speak of are executed a bit better than the average phone. Also, its the carrier's fault that you have to play more for the phone. They are subsidizing the price on these things... Unless you are willing to return your original 3G, that's capitalism for you. Here's a thought, sell your 3G and smile when you pay 399 for the 3gs!
"..could be attributed to any number of factors.."
Could be that people over there have more brains and figured out that you can still get an iPhone without sleeping outside like a bum begging and scavenging from place to place while skipping real life matters, you know, like normal people.
ifone sucks!
I dont know if im going to get one of these im pretty satisfied with my 3g. if i can sell mine for a good amount and not have to come out of my pocket than i might other than that ill be fine. this actually might be my last iphone. these updates are ridiculous ill wait for next year hopefully they will have the new multi core processors maybe a new UI some multi tasking if not ill look elsewhere.
I like people with common sense.
rumour has it that symbian are more ready for dual core than the others.
But seriously major upgrades makes little business sense to these companies. It costs more to produce the phone when there are major upgrade steps. Also they know that drip feeding the features will always attract people who like to have the latest and greatest.
same dude. I bought an iPhone 3G because it was pretty much the best smartphone on the market, when it was released. However, i am fed up with being Apples bitch.
and the App Store?! don't make me laugh. sure, there are 500,000 apps on there, but 499,995 fart apps, 3 apps that look cool but never work, and 2 that are actually useful.
i think my next phone will either be WinMo 6.5/7, Symbian, or Android if it matures a bit more this time next year.
Did you just complain about lack of variety in the App Store and in the same paragraph say you're going to move to Windows Mobile? Oh, the irony!
Hope you enjoy choosing from a huge number of task lists, each at the low, low price of $19.99.
There are way more pistol apps and shotguns apps than fart apps.
at least try to act like you know what you're talking about
Id be first in the queue, if they could actually sell the iphone at a reasonable price.
This is what Apple, Collective Brides of Satan, get for releasing a phone—if you could call it that (which you can't)—based on 1930s technology. Their "iPhone" can only be used for having sex with Hitler in hell, and that type of activity isn't endearing to the young, modern cellular telephone customer; Palm, my heretofore glorious masters, have observed this, and released a smart-phone made out of only the finest of scented oils. It really isn't that complicated.
As we can see in these fine engravings that Engadget has mailed to us all simultaneously, Apple's foolish, functionally-illiterate customer base has decided to stay home and drink bleach and die instead of lining up for a phone that they could just order online, or walk in at any time and pick up, because bleach consumption in extremis is the only reason said children would buy an i and/or Phone in the first place.
I don't think that saying their "phone" launch has fizzled is traffic-mongerey enough; instead, the opinion should be presented that the iPhone never existed, and that everyone who ever liked it, or didn't give a rat's ass about brand names and just wanted a neat phone, is a terrorist, and must be thumb-wrestled to the ground post-haste.
Go away.
What has Hitler got to do with anything?
You tosser.
You made my day! haha excellent!
I normally equate Apple users with people who drink bleach, I actually laughed out loud at my desk. I couldn't tell my co-workers why, because they all use Macs...
Yes CLEARLY the Pre and Android phones caused this.. lol. Did engadget already forget the crazy pre-order numbers they reported earlier in the week?
Come on now it may not be on par with the release of the original iPhone, which was completely new to the world, but I can bet that it will sell pretty damn well.
Guys, anybody knows where can I get an unlocked Iphone during the first launch wave?
Yes. You go to an Apple store, an AT&T store (or a store of the appropriate carrier for whatever country you're in), or another authorized retailer, preferably carrying some mode of payment with you, and ask to buy an iPhone. If they have any available stock, then they will unlock the secure storage area, bring out an iPhone, and process the sale for you. And voila, you have yourself an iPhone, unlocked! Just make sure you immediately lock it up in your own safe once you get home; don't push your luck!
OMG. What I ment is in which countries is the Iphone sold not locked to carrier?
Pleas no more captain Obvious answers.
But... they're fun.
Cell phones, until in about the last couple of weeks or so, have to be sold unlocked in Belgium. I believe that the iPhone 3GS is due for release here next week (so, not really in the first wave but close enough) through Mobistar. However, I haven't seen an official date or price yet from Mobistar and there is the possibility that the new phone could be locked to Mobistar this time.
FYI - the original 3G cost EUR 525 for the 8GB version and EUR 615 for the 16GB. I am expecting the same costs for the 16GB and 32GB versions of the 3GS but don't take my word for this.
Mobistar has confirmed that the 3GS will be available on Friday (26th June) but no idea how much it will cost yet or whether it will be unlocked still. I'm kinda bummed that I will be unable to attempt to purchase one until at least the evening since I signed myself up for a course on presentations that will last all day.
@ arcticfox: Love or loath apple, you can't help but admit that for all it lacked the original iPhone was a huge leap forward in mobile phone technology.
I'm not an apple fanboy, but I love my iPhone 3G. It was the first apple product I have ever purchased and I can honestly say I've never had a phone that has kept me impressed for so long. That said there's no way i'm forking out over £200 for a 3GS. The addition of video recording is the only new feature that would tempt me, but with that kind of cash I could buy a decent Hi Def SD camcorder.
By the time my contract is up they'll probably be a new new iPhone and judging by the feedback on the 3GS it will have to be a game changer rather than an updater!
Wow, that's sad Britain.
Your avatar is seriously driving me nuts.
Why?
I don't know, maybe it's just because of the comments that I subconsciously associate with it.
Gad Get got in there first, but as it still makes sense you can assume that I'm asking you both.
Gad Get, you're quick with the rapid-fire answers!
I don’t consider it’s worth buying the new iPhone 3G S, unless your carrier offers you a cheap upgrade option. The OS 3.0 will bring a lot of 3G S’ features, excepting the 7.2MBps HSPA, 3 MP camera, better processor, and a few more. If you don’t really need those features, go for the OS 3.0 and keep your current iPhone 3G.
However, fans of the iPhone are cheered when Apple's iPhone 3G S made its debut. Also, most users would like to put DVDs movie video on iPhone 3G S. I’ve found a good tutorial about import DVD / video to iphone 3GS/ iPhone 3G:
http://www.daniusoft.com/tutorial/dvd-video-to-iphone-3g-s.html
yea but from what i understand the hspa is not available in a lot of places and is not expected to be rolled out completely towards the end of next year.
Apple cant be happy with o2 (unless they've done a "pre-sold" agreement in the millions) . All this talk about paying off the costs of the subsidy is nonsense - we've been paying a premium contact price for the past 12 months compared with other phones, so the talk about it being "unfair" is rubbish. o2 need to get their act together.
When looking at the matrix for the 3G S prices, they looked back at the queues last year, and thought they could make a quick "buck" (or £ to be precise) out of the apparent demand. Well, i genuinely hope the demand is a LOT lower, and o2 in turn wakes up and improves the situation. Even AT&T has made an effort...
Just walked past that store! There's a bigger queue for the N97 across the road outside the Nokia store!
You mean the line of people RETURNING their N97's. I cancelled my preorder from Amazon after reading all the negative reviews and owners on Howard Forums complaining about all the bugs/bricked devices.
take pictures!!
£538 for iphone 3Gs on pay as you go.
it actually insulted my intelligence. fuck apple
I'd say the people willing to buy a new phone for a video camera and a slight processor/ram bump are largely the same people who would get it delivered out of laziness.
Slight? The processor is significantly faster, and the device has twice the RAM (at 256MB) as the 3G. This is in addition to a faster GPU capable of supporting OpenGL ES 2.0, a magnetometer, higher-quality camera with auto-focus, video recording with geotagging, longer battery life, twice the storage (on the 32GB model), in-line remote support, and voice control over iTunes.
Yeah there are quite a few upgrades to the phone - probably more than most phones get in an upgrade cycle. The only problem is that most of the upgraded features are bringing it in line with phones that have been out for a long while now, therefore a lot of people ignore these and rightly so.
I passed the store around 0645 this morning, the line was a little longer but nothing.... So much so they had to place 1 bit of railing for them to line behind.
I also saw 1 poor fool waiting at the front of the Carphone Warehouse store on oxford street.... why bother..
When (1) can preorder the phones, delivered to your home, sometimes before the official launch date, and, (2) you know there's plenty to go around so there won't be a shortage issue like we've seen in the past, then there really isn't that much incentive to get in line.
Let's judge exactly how people feel about the 3GS by comparing the sales figures after the first 2-3 days with this, the 3G and the original iPhone, shall we?
Well, I own little company and I am investing in iPhone 3G S 32GB for all of my employees. I can guarantee you that we do not have to stand in line. (I have 2500 employees). so, when you disparage the number of people in line in the cold, rain, heat and blazing sun; you need to take into consideration that although the fevered pitch may be abated, the growth market share is far from dwindling.
I have yet to have one employee say that they would rather have a Blackberry or Pre. Funny that.
So, all you haters, I feel you are either unable to have a phone that is post paid, can't get an account with AT&T (or any other carrier for that matter, don't know how to use iTunes or haven't figured out how to pinch, swipe, thumb-type or shake to clear. Or in reality, can't afford the phone. I understand you can a great deal on a RAZR...
Cheers!
Oooohh!! Can I work for your company?!?